Troubled Sunquest site gets new chance.

The owners of a Northeast Valley development site that has been both a source of hope and frustration to the community have hired a turnaround specialist to try and resurrect the troubled project.

With the appointment, controversial developer Randy Roth, who first brought the project to the table about four years ago, has been removed as managing member of the development.

Officials at The Summit Alliance, a Santa Monica-based legal and investment banking services company that assists troubled businesses with refinancing and restructuring, have been conducting a search for a new development partner, and they expect to make a selection shortly.

"They needed a development team that could move the project forward." said Cynthia Futter, president and CEO of Summit Alliance, of the owners of the property. "The challenge was not having the right development team."

Phones at Roth's Sherman Oaks company, Roth Properties, have been disconnected, and Roth could not be reached for comment.

Roth about four years ago announced plans to build Sunquest Industrial Park, a 550,000 square foot light industrial manufacturing park on a 33-acre parcel that had once been a landfill at Branford Street and San Fernando Road in Sun Valley. His plan promised hundreds of jobs for the economically challenged area and Roth even agreed to require 70 percent of those jobs to conform to living wage standards, about $2 per hour higher than minimum wage requirements.

Roth won the support of former Mayor Richard Riordan's business development team and received preliminary approval for about $10 million in government subsidies for the project, but still, no work began on the industrial park.

City officials became concerned last summer when Roth failed to report in with required status updates, but even as his hold on the project was unraveling, Roth continued to insist that the project was moving forward.

Several years earlier, Roth had announced plans to acquire a 35-acre site that was home to the San Fernando Valley Swap Meet and convert it to a big box shopping center.

Roth promised to move the swap meet, which provided employment opportunities to about 1,000 vendors, many local residents of the Northeast Valley, to a portion of the Sunquest site and equip it with a roof as well as air conditioning.

But that deal fell out of escrow.

Officials at Summit Alliance declined to discuss the details of the transition in the management of the Sunquest parcel except to say that the owners exercised their option to change management.

Early last year, the equity partners in the project, now called Sunquest II, began to explore alternatives for developing the park.

"Through a mutual contact, the financial owners came to me and said, would you take a look at this project and give us a recommendation," said Futter, a former partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, and U.S. District Court judge. "I as well as every other member of our transition team are passionate about this project because of the impact it can have."

Summit Alliance dismissed CB Richard Ellis, which had earlier been engaged by Roth to market the property, and brought in the Colliers Seeley team of John R. DeGrinis, Brent Weirick and George Stavaris.

Although details for the development won't be hashed out until a new developer comes on board, the team is anticipating that one change in the plan will be to construct smaller facilities than the 100,000-square-foot plants envisioned by Roth.

"We reworked the site to accommodate the market," said DeGrinis.

Large industrial facilities that can house hundreds of employees have attracted scant attention from users in the San Fernando Valley because most of the manufacturing companies in the area are small- and mid-sized firms.

Another stumbling block to the development had been thought to be the former use of a portion of the parcel as a landfill, but the new team said it is confident that construction can take place around the landfill areas in a cost-effective manner.

"This is a land use issue related to the boundaries of the landfill being different than we thought they were," said Futter. "We now have our arms around what these issues are, and we have solutions."

City officials are anxious to see the site produce job opportunities for the community, but they are reserving judgement about the prospects.

"We hope the project in the end turns out to create net job growth," said Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas whose sixth district includes the Sun Valley area where Sunquest would be located. Rather than attracting existing businesses in the community, Cardenas said he would like to see the site bring new companies, and with them, new jobs, to Sun Valley.

Shopping Center Sold

An investment group representing John E. Anderson, the multi-millionaire entrepreneur for whom the UCLA business school is named, acquired a Woodland Hills shopping center.

Duesenberg Investment Co. bought Gate way Plaza, a 7.88-acre, grocery anchored center at Topanga Canyon and Ventura boulevards for $54.4 million.

The center's tenants include Ralphs, Rite Aid and Bank of America. It totals 122,027 square feet of retail space.

Brian Forster, a partner with TOLD Partners, represented Duesenberg in the deal.

New Senior Residence Underway

Continuing Life Communities, an operator of retirement communities in California, has received city approval to develop a 60-acre continuing care community in Thousand Oaks.

The project, University Village Thousand Oaks, will include 370 independent residences for people aged 62 and older along with assisted living and skilled nursing services.

Richard D. Aschenbrenner, CEO of Continuing Care, said that more than 150 reservations have been made for the new community so far.

Shopping Center for Sale

Century Plaza East, a 12.6 acre shopping center in Lancaster, is on the block for sale.

The center, consisting of 121,192 square feet of rentable space and anchored by Stater Bros. supermarket, has been listed at $11.38 million, according to Alan Krueger, vice president of investments at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co., which has the exclusive listing.

The property, located at 1740 East Ave. J, is 13 years old.

The seller is Triple Net Properties in Santa Ana.

NoHo Protect Underway

Groundbreaking was held last week for the 191-unit NoHo Tower, a residential high-rise under development by JSM Construction, as previously reported here.

The $43-million, luxury high-rise is located at at Lankershim Boulevard and Cumpston Street, across from the North Hollywood Metrorail station.

It will include 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Toluca Lake Sale

A 10-unit Toluca Lake apartment complex has sold for $1,650,000.

The 14-year-old building is located at 41.43 Cahuenga Blvd.

Warren Berzack, a broker with Investment Real Estate Associates, represented the buyers, David Kabachnick and Yolanda Veloz, and the seller, Terrence Burke.

Senior reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail].